My Thursday commentary for the SQL Server Magazine Update e-newsletter discussed quiet changes in SQL Server 2005 and I just realized there's another one I wanted to mention. If you use Indexed Views at all, you're probably aware that there is a set of Read More...

I had been thinking of this post all day, and then noticed that Denis wrote a post with almost the same name . I was worried he might have written about something similar, but it turns out not to be the case. A group of colleagues have been having a discussion Read More...

I recently received a question about the storage of nonclustered index keys. I am assuming you are aware of the fact that if your table has a clustered index, SQL Server uses the clustered index key (all of its columns, if it is a composite index) as Read More...

Yet another fragmentation post, to answer a question asked in response to a previous answer .... SQL_Girl is still confused about DETAILED vs LIMITED, and I don't blame her. She reported that the BOL says: "The nonleaf levels of indexes are only processed Read More...

A couple of questions arrived regarding my earlier post about fragmentation on the system tables , and since the questions really don't have anything to do with system tables, I felt they deserved a new post. 1) Using the DETAILED option includes the Read More...

This is not a post about Jim Gray , much as I wish I had some news to share. It's about one of the reasons you should be really careful about using undocumented trace flags. I always try to warn people, whether I'm writing or speaking, about the dangers Read More...

What is the difference between statistics and indexes? Do auto created statistics indicate that you should build an index? I will be posting answers to some of the interesting questions I get from my students and my readers (these are not two disjoint Read More...

When an issue comes up more than once in a short period of time, I figure it is a message from the Universe. I might even assume it is a gift of blog fodder. So I won't turn down the gift, even if it means another juicy post before the end of year, much Read More...